Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas confessed reaching the Final of the Carling Cup was not as easy as the scoreline might have suggested at the end of yesterday’s game.

Speaking to BBC after the game, the Spaniard was full of praise for Paul Jewell’s side as he admitted they made life difficult for the Gunners and should be proud of their run in the competition. On what the plan was, the midfielder explained the Gunners wanted to get an early, went close to get it but failed to convert early chances.

The 23-year old added how he has no preference on who Arsenal should play in the Wembley final as he believes both Birmingham City and West Ham United are very good teams and will make it difficult for the Gunners.

Having failed to lift any silverware for the last five years, Fabregas concluded by saying how the fans deserve to finally have a trophy win to celebrate with the players ready to terminate their Carling Cup campaign as winners and get the trophy to the Emirates.

After the game, Fabregas said:

That was the objective, we wanted to get into the final, it was difficult, we have to congratulate Ipswich for what they’ve done in this competition because they made things really difficult for us and deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done.

We wanted to score an early goal, had so many chances but couldn’t convert them but we knew the key was patience and we did it very well and [Nicklas] scored a great goal.

I don’t mind [who we play in the final], they are two good teams, it will be difficult, a final is about winning but anything can happen and we’ll do our best because our fans deserve to finally get a trophy at the Emirates.